As festive stack fills supermarket shelves, organised shoppers are already picking up the odd bits ready for Christmas, and beauty bargains are always worth bagging, as they make the perfect stocking fillers.
I spent four Christmas seasons working at my local Boots store, and as a result, I like to think I have a keen eye for a good deal, especially when you know what to look out for. And there’s one unmissable offer that means you can get a whopping £60 worth of makeup for just under £21 - saving nearly two thirds of the cost.
The beauty haul will get you nine full-sized beauty products, which means each product works out around £2.30 each, which is a total steal when some are usually £11.99 individually.
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What we call in the retail industry as a GWP, or, ‘gift with purchase’, are often being handed out when shoppers spend a certain amount this time of year - and they’re ideal gifts to pop in with mum's slippers or your sister-in-laws bottle of gin. At the moment, shoppers can get a beauty heroes box worth £30 when they spend £20 on selected cosmetics.
But which cosmetics should you buy?
What you want to look out for is the ‘stackable’ deals, which is offers that will work alongside the free gift. This are often displayed next to products, and include things like three for two, £5 off when you spend £25 or buy one get one half price.
Sometimes it can be tricky to work out which of these is the better offer, and may require a little bit of calculator work - but I’ve done that bit for you.
At the moment, Maybelline is on three for two, which works out the better of those three saving deals, with a grand saving of £9. When I totted up the best offers for Elf’s but one get one half price deal, I only saved £7, and just £5 on NYX’s £5 off when you spend £25 deal.
The key is to spend as close to £20 after all the deals as possible, and with the Maybelline products I chose, my total came to £20.98.
Of course, you can pick whichever products are your favourite, but have that £20 spend goal in mind. You’ll probably want to go for three items worth around £10 each to get the biggest saving. It’s not worth getting two for £10 and then your freebie only being worth a fiver.
If you’re stuck for inspiration, I added the Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara to my basket, worth £11.99, as well as the Maybelline Lifter Gloss Plumping Hydrating Lip Gloss Hyaluronic Acid, which costs £8.99 - both of which I’ve reviewed previously on the Manchester Evening News.
Then I added the Maybelline Dream Radiant Liquid Hydrating Foundation with Hyaluronic Acid and Collagen, also £8.99, but was free in the three for two offer.
Automatically, the beauty heroes box was added to my basket. There are seven variations of the box, each featuring a pick and mix of up to ten items, from a selection of 26 popular products and gifts. Worth at least £30, it includes well known brands like Revolution, Maybelline, L’Oreal and No7.
In one of the boxes I tried earlier this year, there was a Maybelline Great Lash mascara worth £5.99, and a L’Oreal Lipstick in the shade Tender Rose, worth £7.99. Some of the cheaper beauty buys are the Collection colourlash clear mascara, which doubles as a brow gel, worth £2.49, a lilac Rimmel nail paint which would normally cost £3.99, No7 biodegradable face wipes - which we previously reviewed - and a Revolution liquid lip product which costs £4.
There are more than 2,000 products which qualify for the free beauty heroes box when shoppers spend £20 or more - you can find everything included here, and be sure to look out for the extra stackable offers on the right hand side of products when you click them.
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